Six Months
by Lugh Lamfada
Summary: Blackfire, former queen of Tamaran, has fallen ill and fears she only has a short time left to live. She decides to make peace with her enemies. But all may not be as it seems.
1. Chapter 1

Six Months

Chapter One

She was a thief. She was an exile. She was the former grand ruler of Tamaran.

She had six months left to live. She walked among the graves of her ancestors before coming to the grave of her mother. She knelt.

"I'm sorry, Mama." She mumbled. "I'm sorry I was such a screw up. I'm sorry that I was a criminal. I'm sorry I treated my sister the way I did. I'm sorry...I'm just sorry." Tears brimmed at her eyes. "X'hal is punishing me isn't she? I don't deserve this. I've done horrible things, but I don't deserve _this_. Please tell her that."

"Kommand'r what are you doing here?" 

She stood up at the sound of Galfour's voice. "Is Koriand'r around here?"

Galfour shook his head. "No. She's on Earth. I'm ruling in her place."

"A better ruler that I ever was."

"Princess?"

"Let me be buried here. Next to my mother."

"You have a long life ahead of you, girl. Don't dwell on such things."

She paused, deep in thought. "I really should be punished...isn't the penalty for returning after banishment death?"

"That was overturned five-hundred years ago. Are you asking to be executed? Are you alright?"

"I'm dying, G'norfka." She looked down at her feet. "The _vara-tol_." It was a disease that destroyed the body's cells. Their was no known cure.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. The next thing he knew she had collapsed on his chest weeping. He held her frail body against his.

"I...I don't know what to say." He stroked her hair. "I really don't..."

"I'm sorry, G'norfka."

"For what?"

"So much."

She wept in his arms for about half an hour before pulling away. "I need to go to my sister."

He nodded. "Please, visit me again. You are welcome on Tamaran again. On my honor as grand ruler."

She nodded. "For all the good it does, thank you. I will visit again."

She flew into the air and was soon off towards earth. He watched her, unshed tears brimming at his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

By the time Blackfire got to Earth it was night. She landed on the roof of the tower. Her sister was sitting with a friend of hers. They were both floating in the air in a cross legged position. She assumed they were meditating. Her sister's friend, Raven she suudenly recalled, opened her eyes and stood.

"Blackfire." 

Her sister, X'hal bless her, always the "special" sister, opened her eyes and promptly fell on her butt. Blackfire's sides hurt by the time she was finished laughing. She just barely dodged the starbolt.

"Blackfire, you treachourous no-good-rotten-terrible-excuse-for-a-sister!"

"Aww...still mad about the fake war and me trying to get you to marry a slime creature?"

"I am very mad indeed sister!" 

She giggled. "I'm going to miss you when I'm dead...oh, I made myself sad again..." She deeply sighed.

"Blackfire, what's wrong with your aura?" The witch asked.

"I'm dying." Everytime she said it she felt more acceptance of this fact. She smiled at Starfire. "I'll say hello to Mama and Papa for you. You were their favorite."

"S-sister, what are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, you know it was true." 

"No not that. What do you mean you're dying?"

"How much clearer can I get? I'm dying. Six months from now I'm not going to be breathing. I have _vara-tol_."

She was completely unprepared for the extremely loud Tamaranian mourning howl. She held her ears while her sister wailed to the high heavens. Suddenly Starfire ran and embraced her sister.

"Sister I shall miss you!" She sobbed in Blackfire's chest. "It is a tragedy that we were never friends!"

_Come on Starfire...we were kind of friends...kind of...no not really._

She embraced Starfire. "Didn't know you cared enough to let out the mourners howl."

"Of course I care! We're sisters!"

"After you banished me..."

Somehow Starfire managed to speak between her sobs. "Please tell me you did not contract this disease on some world you were on during your exile." She wiped away her tears. "Please tell me this is not my fault. I couldn't take the guilt."

Blackfire shook her head. "No, that's not how you get it. This thing has been in my blood. Remember when my skin turned purple during my change? That's not normal. I found that out a week ago. That must've been when the virus invaded my system. No one caught it. This disease is so rare." A note of concern crept into her voice. "What happened when you went through the change?"

"I turned into a chrysalis."

"Ah...that happened to a friend of mine. She almost got eaten." 

"So did I."

"I came here for a reason. I need to make peace before I join my ancestors in the land beyond the stars."

"What is it, sister?"

"I'm sorry. Really, I mean that. Life is just so damned short and I wasted it being a total bitch to everyone. I was an idiot and I beg your forgiveness."

"Of course I forgive you!" Shouted Starfire once again embracing her sister in a bear hug. Blackfire began to cough. She dropped down to the ground, blood escaping her lips. Starfire and Raven helped her up.

"It's progressed." Murmured Blackfire.

"Sister, I shall prepare for you the soup of healing." 

She nodded. "Your kindness is appreciated Kori." 

"Kori?" Wondered Raven.

"Koriand'r is my name in Tamaranian."

"Mine is Kommand'r in case you were curious."

Raven and Starfire took her by the shoulders and led her inside.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

As Raven and Starfire helped Blackfire into the tower Robin met them. He raised an eyebrow.

"Starfire? Why is Blackfire here? And why do you look so upset?" He looked more closely at her. "Have you been crying?" 

"Yes, I have been. I am in mourning for the sake of my sister who has fallen ill and will soon leave this world for the land of our ancestors."

Blackfire nodded. "It's true. I've got six months."

"I'm...I'm sorry to hear that."

"Are you, Robin?" She sat down on the couch and coughed. "I'll never understand why you humans say things like that. You didn't cause this."

"It's just an expression. If Starfire's sad then so am I. You don't deserve to die so young."

"Death comes to all of us. I've accepted this." 

She looked from Starfire to Robin and back again. Then she sniffed and grinned. "You've marked your mate well. I'm shocked I don't see bite marks." She said in Tamaranian.

Starfire blushed and softly giggled. "They're on his neck. He's covering them." She answered back in the same tongue.

Robin looked confused for a moment, but decided to ignore it. "You're welcome to stay here. We have a spare bedroom."

"Thank you." 

Starfire left and went into the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later with a bowl of green soup. Though it would have disgusted a human the terminally ill Tamaranian looked positively delighted as she took it from her sister's hands.

"Ah, just as mother used to make." She said as she sipped from it.

"I am pleased, I did not know you liked my cooking!"

"You've improved a lot."

Robin motioned for Starfire to meet him in the kitchen.

"Are you sure she doesn't have something up her sleeve?" Robin asked as she joined him in the kitchen.

She looked perplexed. "My sister is not wearing sleeves." 

Robin shook his head. "What I mean is, are you sure she isn't here to somehow get even with you? That she's faking an illness."

"She coughed up blood."

"Oh...oh, G-d, that's horrible. So, she's really going?" 

"It is sad, but true. My sister is very ill. _Vara-tol_ is relatively painless, but deadly. We don't have a cure for it. She will become weaker and weaker until finally she'll no longer be able to stand. Then..." Tears filled her eyes. She brushed them away. "Then she will die."

...

That night they slept next to each other. It was something they hadn't done since they were small children. Blackfire told her of all that she had done during her exile. How she had led a band of pirates for a time, how she had narrowly escaped being captured by Gordanian slavers and other foes, how she had escaped a second time from prison.

"My lowest point was sitting once again in jail. I thought to myself 'Well, Blackfire what a fine mess you've gotten yourself into.' I knew I had to escape. Using my feminie wiles I seduced one of the guards. As he slept I stole his keys and quietly fled. Then I got a job at a diner. Every now and then I returned in secret to Tamaran. I fell in with a group of other exiles. We lived together in the desert of the southern continent on Tamaran. It was there I fell in love for the first time in my life. We used to make love beneath the bright full moons." She sighed in pleasure at the memory. "I love him still. He is somewhere right now mounrning for me. He probably thinks I'm already with my ancestors."

"How very sad, but romantic." Starfire said.

"Enough about me. How has my younger sister been? Being good as always?"

"I have been using my own feminine wiles on Robin. We traveled to the land of Japan and faced a terrible sorcerer and his black magic. It was their that I fell in love for the first time. I have also faced a terrible devil." She told her of Trigon, whicnh made Blackfire'sface pail, how he had ravaged the Earth, but had finally fallen to the Titans. She told her of how she and Robin had fallen more and more in love.

"Wow, Sis, we've both led exciting and glamorous lives." 

"So we have Sister." For the first time in years they really felt like sisters.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Sister?"

"Yes, Blackfire?"

Her sister stood before her. She was naked. The dawn had just beguin to rise. She handed Starfire a Tamaranian spear. It was a royal spear that Starfire had brought from Tamaran.

"I don't want to die like this. Give me an honorable death." 

Starfire's hands trembled. "Kommand'r, no, I couldn't!" 

"Better death at your hands. I want to take the glory road not the shameful road of a bed death. We shall battle. And I will give myself to your spear."

"I will not-I will not do this!" She threw the spear. Blackfire sighed and picked up the spear.

...

At the Intergalactic Hospital Dr. T'raquon Ja'farma picked up a file. He held his head. He had had a continuous hangover for a week. He had contemplated giving up drinking. He sat down at a desk with the file. His eyes widened.

"Nurse! Nurse!"

The nurse rushed in. "Yes, Doctor?" She winked at him with her fourth eye. "Is it time for my sponge bath?" She plopped in his lap.

"Does the letter "a" exist in your language?"

"No, that sound does not exist in our language."

"It does in Tamaranian. There is a huge difference between _var-tol_, a flu common in young Tamaranians and _varA-tol_-a terminal illness. This says this patient has _var-tol..._" He picked up a second file. "This one says she has _vara-tol."_

She picked up the file. "I wondered why she burst into tears..."

...

Raven walked into Starfire's room. Blackfire had put on some clothes and was speaking hurriedly with Starfire in Tamaranian. Starfire looked upset and kept shaking her head.

"You have a visitor Blackfire."

"A visitor?" Blackfire looked up. " Who?"

"He says he is a doctor. And he keeps apologizing about a mistake."

"A...mistake?"

Doctor T'raquon stepped up behind Raven.

"Um...hello Doctor. What is this about?"

"Well,l...I'm terribly sorry, but there's been a mistake."

"A mistake? A mistake? I f***ing asked my sister to kill me so I wouldn't have a shameful death,there'd better not be a f****ing mistake Doctor."

"Oooh...I am soooo glad you didn't go through with that."

"DOES THE TERM MALPRACTICE MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU YOU SON OF A KLORBAG'S SHIT?"

"Ma'am-"

"I THINK YOU MEAN THE FORMER MOTHERF***KING QUEEN OF TAMARAN! THIS IS PRACTICALLY A DECLARATION OF WAR!"

"Yes, your highness. Certainly. Though I myself am not a Tamaranian I certainly res-."

"AND I AM SICK!"

"You have _var-tol_."

She paused. "Oh. Oh. That's a much more common illness."

"I have some medicine here. Though really it will clear itself up in a few days."

He dodged the blackbolt and ran. Raven stifled a laugh and returned to her room.

...

The two Tamaranian sisters sat atop the tower staring up at the clouds.

"So, yeah. I'm not dying."

"I am so very glad sister!" She hugged her sister. Blackfire patted her back.

"But, what will you do now?" 

Blackfire sighed. "I made a promise to the Lady X'ahl."

"What kind of promise?"

"I promised the Blessed Mother that if I lived I would dedicate myself to her for ten years. As a celibate type."

"This shall no doubt be difficult for you." Starfire commented.

"Yes. Yes it will be."

"You have alwayed loved the males."

"Yes. Yes I have. So very much." 

They continued to stare up at the clouds.

"I wish you luck in your endeavors, Kommand'r."

"And may the Blessed Lady grant you her protection." 

She then flew off towards Tamaran.

...

A Year Later

Blackfire fingered the holy beads between her fingers as she knelt in the darkness of her cell. It had been creepy at first, but she had become used to it. She had even come to find it peaceful.

One day, when this had ended, she was going to reclaim what was hers. She would gather an army (many were still loyal to her) and conquer all Tamaran. She smiled. She almost pitied her poor sister. She loved the girl and meant her no harm. But Tamaran was hers. And hers it would soon be again.

"Holy X'ahl, mother of Tamaran, watch over us now and at the hour of our death..."

The End...?


End file.
